LONDON — Keir Starmer’s Cabinet members voiced their support for the prime minister on Monday, buying him time to shore up his beleaguered premiership after the Labour Party’s leader in Scotland urged him to quit.

One by one, every single Cabinet minister backed Starmer in the hour after Anas Sarwar’s intervention. That included both Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who are widely seen as the most likely senior figures to launch a leadership challenge against Starmer.

Streeting told Sky’s flagship political podcast Monday that people should “give Keir a chance.” Rayner said in a post on X that Starmer has her “full support” and that it’s “the worst possible response would be to play party politics or factional games.” Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, Defense Secretary John Healey and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood also declared their support in successive posts on X.

Before the Cabinet rushed to steady Starmer, the situation appeared perilous. Sarwar’s intervention came after some Labour backbenchers had already called for the prime minister to take responsibility for his decision in late 2024 to appoint Mandelson. That appointment was made despite the premier’s knowledge that the Labour grandee had maintained ties with Jeffrey Epstein for years after his 2008 conviction in a state prostitution case involving a minor.

“The distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change,” Sarwar said Monday in a televised press conference. “We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland,” he said, pointing to Scottish Parliament elections in May in which the association with an unpopular leader south of the border does Sarwar no favors with the electorate.

Starmer spokesman, Tom Wells, earlier told reporters the prime minister wasn’t planning to resign. The premier is due to address members of parliamentary Labour Party later on Monday.

Though Starmer may have bought himself time, the calls for his resignation will feed a growing sense of crisis engulfing 10 Downing Street after he was hit by the departure of a second senior aide in 24 hours when his communications director, Tim Allan, quit a day after his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney — a key architect of the Labour Party’s landslide election win 18 months ago.

Earlier on Monday, Starmer pledged to press on with his agenda. In his remarks to staffers in No. 10, the premier praised McSweeney’s contribution to Labour’s political revival in recent years and signaled that he intended to fight on as prime minister.

“We must prove that politics can be a force for good. I believe it can. I believe it is,” Starmer said, according to a statement. “We go forward from here. We go with confidence as we continue changing the country.”

With May’s elections approaching, the loss of Sarwar’s backing is a blow to Starmer. The Scottish Labour leader has grown increasing critical of the prime minister ahead of what’s expected to be a tough ballot for control of Scotland’s devolved parliament.

“This isn’t easy, and it’s not without pain, as I have a genuine friendship with Keir Starmer, but my first priority and my first loyalty is to my country, Scotland,” Sarwar said.

The rallying of Cabinet ministers helped spark a modest rebound in U.K. assets on Monday. Gilts pared declines, leaving yields on 10-year government bonds up two basis points at 4.54%. They earlier rose as much as eight basis points. Meanwhile the pound was 0.3% lower against the euro, after earlier weakening as much as 0.7%.

Investors have tended to react negatively to the prospect of Starmer or Reeves leaving their posts, out of concern they could be replaced by colleagues more willing boost spending. Rayner, a prominent voice among the party’s so-called soft left, and Streeting, who hails from Starmer’s own centrist wing, have led betting-market odds on those mostly likely to become the next Labour leader.

Starmer, who has been struggling with historically low approval ratings and faced rebellions by backbench Members of Parliament, has come under increasing fire over the Mandelson appointment, despite firing the envoy in September. The initial decision is being reexamined after the extent of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was revealed in files released by the U.S. Justice Department late last month.

While McSweeney took the blame for Mandelson’s appointment in his resignation statement, the decision ultimately rested with Starmer. The criticism has fueled questions about the prime minister’s ability to hang on, with his leadership already weakened by series of policy reversals and the rise of Nigel Farage’s populist Reform U.K. in the polls.

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(With assistance from Greg Ritchie, Joe Mayes, Alex Morales, Alice Gledhill and David Goodman.)

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